Building my cottage..

[tommcafee]

Decided to take some time and build myself a cottage. 1500 sq.ft. overlooking Lake Huron. 3 bed and 2 bath, open living and kitchen / great room. Exterior is going to be western red cedar shake and some local quarried lime stone. Anyways, I was always told a picture is worth a thousand words....



















Most importantly, my office, where my best thinking is done...














Starting shingling this AM, should have the rest down by Friday evening or early Sat morning.

Will keep posting pics. The garage is framed as well, seem to have not got any photos of it.

 

[westcliffe01]

Dang, looks like a heluva cottage.... If I understood correctly a 1500sqft basement with finished 1500 sqft above ? That nearly meets the Mc Mansion specification here.... Looks like it is moving along nicely. I see the basement floor is insulated. Do you intend to berm the basement walls or add external insulation to them ?

 

[tommcafee]

Hey Westcliffe, no mcmansion. Just a 1500 sq. ft. main floor. I build and sell Mcmansions for a living, I don't want that for my cottage. It's a crawlspace underneath. The block walls will next be sprayed with foam.

 

[Spanky100]

tommcafee

Very nice view and location. You are going quick as well. Thanks for the great pictures for us to enjoy. What kind of HVAC system will you install.

Spanky

 

[westcliffe01]

Here across the pond, residential construction has been zero now for several years. The mcmansion business is gone along with the residents that have fled the bankrupt state. I guess that economic activity in Ontario must be substantially better since people need to earn wages to pay for newly built homes. All the best with your endeavor.

 

[hawkeye08]

Very nice! I like it.

 

[Pete Judd]

Love the view.

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks great. Love seeing the pics and a crew that knows what they are doing.

Eddie

 

[dave1949]

Sweet!

 

[s219]

Looks Awesome! So that will be a conditioned/encapsulated crawl I assume?

 

[MoKelly]

Awesome view of the Lake --- if you really can call that a Lake. The Great Lakes are small oceans.

MoKelly

 

[tommcafee]

s219, the crawl space slab is insulated, and the walls will be foamed to r12 sometime late next week.

The wind felt like it was near gale force today, so shingling was a little slower than I wanted, but should have the bulk of them down by Friday night. Windows and doors should hopefully be along mid next week.

 

[tommcafee]

Spanky, it is a high efficiency forced air propane, as well as a HRV. There is also a propane fireplace in the corner of the "great room". Likely put in an electronic air cleaner too.

 

[DrRod]

You're so lucky to find a view like that - just makes you feel good any time of day and in any weather.

Ok -- since unsolicited advice is just one of my many services, I have to offer my standard admonition to anyone building a cottage. No lawn. Do whatever you can to take advantage of natural landscaping and minimize the lawn. My place sits on a great sweep of grass with a circular drive around the cabin -- it is really nice [my grandparents laid it all out in the 30's]. But the first job every trip is to mow. The second job is to take care of the mowers. The third job is to fertilize, treat weeds, or rake depending on the season.

We were just noticing last weekend how many people have expansive yards out in the country -- even with really humble cottages, houses, or mobile homes. And the time and money they spend on it is amazing.

Of course, your opinion counts on this, but can't resist sharing the voice of experience.

 

[MotorSeven]

You're so lucky to find a view like that - just makes you feel good any time of day and in any weather.

Ok -- since unsolicited advice is just one of my many services, I have to offer my standard admonition to anyone building a cottage. No lawn. Do whatever you can to take advantage of natural landscaping and minimize the lawn. My place sits on a great sweep of grass with a circular drive around the cabin -- it is really nice [my grandparents laid it all out in the 30's]. But the first job every trip is to mow. The second job is to take care of the mowers. The third job is to fertilize, treat weeds, or rake depending on the season.

We were just noticing last weekend how many people have expansive yards out in the country -- even with really humble cottages, houses, or mobile homes. And the time and money they spend on it is amazing.

Of course, your opinion counts on this, but can't resist sharing the voice of experience.

Excellent advise....around our log house it's all native, & mostly leaves:thumbsup:

 

[JRobyn]

Ours is about 1/2 acre of grassy-looking weeds. Whatever came up on its own from wild seeds after it was graded. I hate that it needs to be mowed, but what else can one have growing over the septic field?

- Jay

 

[tommcafee]

Well. all the shingles are down now, and the windows and doors come tomorrow. Need to finish putting the trusses up on the garage and get it shingled today. Will try to get some pictures tonight.

 

[tommcafee]

Some pics from the other day. Way behind on posting pictures. Plumbing and electrical started, windows in, waiting on my doors (ARG), Garage door installed today, also ready to wire and plumb. Septic is going in next week, and I will likely dig my hydro service in next week too.

 

[Western]

WOW what a view!!! When do we all come up for the fish'n? At first It looked like ICF's, but then easy to see the blocks in the 2nd and 3rd photo. Should be many nice evenings sitting on the back!!

 

[EddieWalker]

It's looking really nice. I'm sure I'm splitting hairs here, but that looks like Tyvek tape around the dormer windows instead of window tape. Are you going to use window tape around your windows? I know millions of homes where built without it, but it's cheap and easy to install and it does do a pretty good job of sealing around the windows where air is proven to get through them.

Eddie